{"id":18418,"date":"2017-11-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-043-the-invisible-war-part-4\/"},"modified":"2017-11-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-043-the-invisible-war-part-4","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-043-the-invisible-war-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 043 – The Invisible War (Part 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18418","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 043 - The Invisible War (Part 4)","sermon_date":"20171126","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5198,"sermon_slides":5197,"sermon_mp3":5200,"sermon_id":"1126171034310","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"10:14\u201311:1","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Invisible War (Part 4)\n\n11-26-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 10:14-1:1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 43\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 10 and verse 14, continuing on in our studies in Daniel 10 as we continue to talk about The Invisible War, Part 4.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope everybody survived Thanksgiving; your indigestion is okay and everything.\u00a0 That was something else, that was quite a feast.\n\nHave you been tracking with us?\u00a0 We have been in, the last several Sundays, the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Here\u2019s sort of an outline of the chapter.\u00a0 We saw the setting; the setting is in verses 1-3. \u00a0Cyrus, of Medio Persia is the king; the Gentile king in the background as this chapter unfolds, and that\u2019s not just true with chapter 10, it\u2019s also true with chapter 11 and chapter 12.\u00a0 This would be the third year of Cyrus which makes these events about 536 B.C. Daniel\u2019s last major prophecy.\u00a0 As we have mentioned many times he is in his mid-80\u2019s at this time and yet the Lord is still using him.\u00a0 The return that the nation of Israel had expected was now happening as well; the nation of Israel had been in captivity for 70 years and now that cycle was ending and the first wave had gone back into the land of Israel from Babylon (which is modern day Iraq)\u00a0 about 350 miles to the east of the city of Jerusalem.\n\nDaniel is in prayer.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that as we study the Book of Daniel how frequently this man, what little we\u2019re given of him, is in prayer.\u00a0 To Daniel prayer was as natural as breathing.\u00a0 It was as natural as exhaling; it was as natural as inhaling.\u00a0 It was the privilege that he had to commun\u00ad\u00adicate with his God, his creator and his redeemer.\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul, in the New Testament, tells us to emulate this and we should pray, 1 Thessalonians 5, \u201cwithout\u201d what? \u201cwithout ceasing.\u00a0 It\u2019s \u00a0\u00a0not something coerced or forced but just a natural part of life.\u00a0 Daniel, as he encounters problems is perpetually in prayer, not just speaking to God but wanting to hear from God as well.\n\nSo a messenger arrives, Daniel being in prayer about the future of the nation now that the seventy year captivity has ended and an angelic being, verses 4-9, arrives to answer Daniel\u2019s prayer request. And beginning in verse 10 this angelic being begins to explain some things.\u00a0 The first thing the angel, I think it\u2019s Gabriel, explains is why is it that Daniel prays for something twenty-one days earlier and yet the heavens were as brass and there was no answer?\u00a0 The angel is very clear that this is not because God didn\u2019t hear Daniel.\u00a0 It\u2019s not because God was unconcerned about Daniel and his inquiries for truth; it\u2019s just there was a spiritual conflict in the heavenlies for twenty-one days, or three weeks, inhibiting the message from getting through.\n\nThis really is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible because it describes the invisible war, the spiritual war that\u2019s taking place all around us.\u00a0 As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, \u201cFor we wrestle not against\u201d what? \u201cflesh and blood.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Your enemy is not people; your enemy is not your cantankerous neighbor.\u00a0 You enemy is not your mean-spirited boss.\u00a0 Your enemy is not the American civil liberties union, or whatever liberal group may be out there.\u00a0 Your enemy is Satan; Satan is using (in most cases) the minds of people that don\u2019t even know He\u2019s out there, that He exists, to wage war on your life.\u00a0 Should you ever get to a point in your life where you begin as a Christian to hate people, because that\u2019s easy to do because people can be a little bit difficult\u2026 amen!\u00a0 We\u2019ve lost focus; the enemy is not people!\u00a0 The enemy is the adversary that uses people.\u00a0 He uses unbelievers, and sadly he can even use believers.\u00a0 Paul, as I understand his ministry didn\u2019t waste his time being angry at people.\u00a0 He spent his time standing in the full armor of God, understanding who his true enemy was.\u00a0 So this explanation is given, particularly in verses 12 and 13, one of the greatest treatments of spiritual warfare in the whole Bible, which is what we went through by way of teaching last time.\n\nAnd then the explanation continues as Gabriel, the heavenly messenger, how do you explain the reason for the delay, now explain the reason for his visit.\u00a0 When the angel finally broke through to get to Daniel what was the purpose for which Gabriel was dispatched.\u00a0 We pick that up there in verse 14 of Daniel, chapter 10.\u00a0 Daniel 10:14 says, \u201cNow I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Notice that word, \u201cunderstanding.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of people today that sort of have an attitude that I don\u2019t want to know about Jesus, I just want to know Jesus.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give me facts, give me a relationship.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give me information but give me intimacy with God.\u00a0 That is a mindset that is so prevalent today if I were to put quotes from various people who teach this we would be here all afternoon going through these quotes and citations.\n\nThe church of Jesus Christ, the body of Jesus Christ, more than any other time in my lifetime (that I can think of) has moved into an experiential mindset where teaching is downplayed if it\u2019s done at all and the emotions and the experience are played up.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is the heart cannot rejoice in what the mind cannot comprehend.\u00a0 Did you hear that?\u00a0 The heart cannot worship or rejoice in what the mind does not comprehend.\u00a0 In order for worship to be authentic we have to understand God.\u00a0 We have to understand what He\u2019s done for us.\u00a0 All of that involves didactic teaching.\u00a0 A church that is not a teaching church, by definition, is not a worshipping church.\n\nDid not Jesus say in John 4:24 that we are to worship the Lord \u201cin spirit and truth.\u201d\u00a0 [John 4:24, \u201cGod is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice how the two are merged together.\u00a0 On one end of the extreme you have people that just want to experience God with no teaching or learning whatsoever.\u00a0 On the other end of the stick you have people that just want to learn about God but the fact that they are learning are never, for whatever reason, allowed to transform the human heart.\u00a0 The Bible is about both; it is about teaching, understanding, information which we would call knowledge, but God never intended knowledge, and this is the mistake that\u2019s often made, to be the last step.\n\nKnowledge in and of itself was never meant to be the final step.\u00a0 Knowledge was designed by God to be a first step; it was to move into wisdom, which is knowledge applied.\u00a0 But how can you apply knowledge to be wisdom if you don\u2019t have what first?\u00a0 Knowledge.\u00a0 The heart cannot rejoice in what the mind cannot comprehend.\u00a0 And so as we study these various passages in the Book of Daniel we keep running into this phrase \u201cunderstanding.\u201d\u00a0 God wants to give us understanding in proper balance.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice this expression, \u201clatter days\u201d and \u201cfuture.\u201d\u00a0 The angel was dispatched from heaven to reveal to Daniel what Israel\u2019s final conflicts would be before her covenants are fulfilled.\u00a0 God has given to the nation of Israel many covenants.\u00a0 Once those covenants are in fulfillment the kingdom of God will have come upon the earth but before the kingdom is coming a great conflict.\u00a0 The information about that conflict is going to begin in chapter 11, verse 2, and it\u2019s going to go all the way through the end of the book, chapter 12 and verse 13.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tremendous vision that Daniel is about to receive that will start from his own time period; it will leap forward into the empire of Greece and a lot of information centuries after Daniel had left the scene, four centuries to be exact, will be spelled out in great detail.\n\nAnd then beginning in verse 36 of chapter 11 the vision will leap forward into the distant future, a time period still future from our angle.\u00a0 And it will describe the tribulation period and the glorious manifestation of the kingdom that is to come.\u00a0 This is what the angel is making Daniel aware of in terms of what he is about to receive, a vision starting from about 536 B.C. going all the way to the end of human history, prior to the manifestation of the kingdom, Daniel 11 and 12 to be specific.\n\nThat\u2019s why the angel came; that\u2019s why there was such a war in terms of getting this information to Daniel concerning the importance of the vision that he is about to receive.\n\nThe more the important the assignment from God the greater the spiritual warfare; because Daniel was about to receive something great from God there was tremendous spiritual conflict in the heavenly places.\u00a0 I know this just from my own life; whenever it seems like all hell has broken loose, either in the church or in my family or in my personal life, my wife and I have gone through this to a point where we just say to ourselves, you know what, let\u2019s be encouraged because God is getting ready to do something good; maybe He\u2019s getting ready to do something BIG.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve noticed that every time I have any spiritual victory of any quality there is always a season of conflict or warfare that precedes the manifestation of that victory.\u00a0 And I just share that with you today by way of encouragement because some of you are under great attack, great setbacks, great frustrations.\u00a0 And rather than finding yourself in a place of discouragement because of that it might be time to think of that by way of encouragement because unless God was going to do something significant in your life you would not have a bullseye on your back.\u00a0 The fact that you have been targeted means, by definition, that God wants to do something very significant through your life.\u00a0 This is the kind of thing that\u2019s happening to Daniel here.\n\nDaniel, beginning in verses 15-19, reacts to this; there\u2019s a reaction that he has when he comes into contact with this angelic being.\u00a0\u00a0 You have a problem described, verses 15-17, and then a solution described, verses 18-19.\u00a0 Did you know that any problem in your life God already has an answer.\u00a0 I made reference to this book before but it was sitting on my desk and I decided to bring it up again as I was thinking through this prior to preaching and teaching this morning.\u00a0 One of my favorite professors at Dallas Seminary was J. Dwight Pentecost.\u00a0 He\u2019s most known for his teaching on deep theology but he has a little book you might consider getting your hands on this.\u00a0\u00a0 The title of it is \u201cLife\u2019s Problems: God\u2019s Solutions<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that a great title?\n\nIt\u2019s sort of like what we\u2019re seeing here in verses 15-19; problem, verses 15-17, solution, verses 18-19.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of astonishing looking through the table of contents of Dr. Pentecost\u2019s book looking at the subjects that he deals with from a biblical angle.\u00a0 He mentions 15 problems.\u00a0 Let me know if any of these problems beset you: Number 1, guilt.\u00a0 Number 2, suffering.\u00a0 Number 3, disappointment.\u00a0 Number 4, something that encompasses all of us, worry, anxiety.\u00a0 Problem number 4, doubt.\u00a0 Problem number 6, I\u2019m glad I\u2019m free of this one, irritability.\u00a0 Problem number seven, discourage\u00adment, Lord, I\u2019ve been plowing away so long and nothing good has happened; I\u2019m just discouraged.\u00a0 Number 8, monotony or boredom.\u00a0 Number 9, resentment.\u00a0 Why is it that I\u2019ve been walking with the Lord for so long and yet this person that treated me unfairly in the past I just can\u2019t seem to shake it, I can\u2019t seem to get it out of my mind.\u00a0 Every time that person\u2019s name surfaces I have this lingering resentment towards that person because I\u2019ve been dealt with unfairly.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be shocked to discover the Bible deals with that situation.\u00a0 Number 10, pressure.\u00a0 Number 11, loneliness.\n\nNumber 12, inferiority, Worm Theology, Lord, it\u2019s just me down here, can I steal 30 seconds of Your time; I\u2019m just a worm, I\u2019m just a lowly person, and we develop sort of an inferiority complex.\u00a0 We look at other Christians that seem to be so successful in the spiritual life and yet we\u2019re not and we think we\u2019re somehow inferior in comparison to them.\u00a0 You know, the Bible deals with the subject of inferiority.\n\nHow about this one, knowing God\u2019s will.\u00a0 The Bible deals with that.\u00a0 How about this one (number 14 I believe this is) living for Jesus Christ in the business world.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 A whole chapter on that, I think we\u2019ve seen some examples of how to deal with that one just by studying the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 And then I think we\u2019re here at number 15, materialism.\u00a0 How do we look at the subject of money, getting ahead, keeping up with the Jones\u2019 and all of those subjects.\n\nAnd as I kind of leafed through Dr. Pentecost\u2019s book I didn\u2019t see any psychology.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see any human potential empowerment type teaching.\u00a0 I just saw Scripture, Scripture, Scripture, Scripture, Scripture.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons I loved him as a teacher; he never talked about things unless it had some kind of basis or foundation in the Word of God.\u00a0 You know, 2 Timothy 3:17 talks about how Scripture equips us for how many good works?\u00a0 \u201cEvery good work.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d]\u00a0 Well what does the word \u201cevery\u201d mean?\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s what it means\u2014every, anything that you\u2019re going through, any problem that you have,\u00a0 you might be saying to yourself well, I don\u2019t have any problems today.\u00a0 Well, cheer up,\u00a0 yours will show up tomorrow or next week or next month, problems and difficulties are part of living in a fallen world.\u00a0 No matter what it is, think of the realm of problems that people have.\u00a0 There is something in the Scripture that deals with every single problem.\n\nAnd why wouldn\u2019t God deal with our problems?\u00a0 He\u2019s already fixed the greatest problem, hasn\u2019t He?\u00a0 What\u2019s the greatest problem?\u00a0 That I, as a sinner, without Christ am on my way to hell.\u00a0 Can you think of a more severe problem than that?\u00a0 And yet God, through Jesus Christ and His shed blood and His resurrection from the dead has fixed that problem.\u00a0 And if He\u2019s going to fix the greatest problem why wouldn\u2019t there be things in His Word that would help us through life\u2019s, what I would call secondary problems, minor problems.\n\nProblem, verses 15-17 we see that pattern; solution, verses 18-19.\u00a0 What exactly is Daniel\u2019s problem that he is describing.\u00a0 Notice verse 15, \u201cWhen he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. [16] And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, \u2018O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. [17] For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.\u201d\n\nWhat is Daniel describing here?\u00a0 He\u2019s describing weakness that he feels.\u00a0 Why does he feel weak?\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a lot of reasons for that; one of the reasons is he, as a sinner, is in the presence of holiness now.\u00a0 If this being is not Jesus Christ it\u2019s a messenger of Jesus Christ authorized to execute the will of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t all of us in that circumstance feel a state of weakness, insecurity, inferiority, a feeling like we don\u2019t belong.\u00a0 And yet there\u2019s a solution to that, isn\u2019t there, called the transferred righteousness of Christ, what the Protestant Reformers called an alien righteousness.\u00a0 Why is it called an \u201calien righteousness\u201d?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s a righteousness that is foreign to our natural selves.\u00a0 It\u2019s a righteousness that has to come from the outside in.\u00a0 It\u2019s a doctrine that we call imputation or the transferred righteousness of Christ.\n\nWe stand this morning, we stand today, we stand this afternoon, we stand this evening not before God on the basis of things that we have mustered up and done; that would be self-righteousness.\u00a0 The Bible never teaches self-righteousness.\u00a0 It teaches transferred righteousness.\u00a0 Paul, in the Book of Philippians, chapter 3 and verse 9 writes this: \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own\u201d do you see that?\u00a0 \u201cnot having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d\u00a0 Because it comes from God it\u2019s an alien righteousness and it\u2019s received only one way\u2026 faith alone in Christ alone!\n\nDaniel may have been referring to his need for that transferred righteousness.\u00a0 If you look there also at the end of verse 16 it talks about anguish that he was experiencing and he retained no strength because the visions that he is seeing bothered him.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 I know that because at the end of Daniel 7 Daniel essentially said the same thing about the conclusion of that vision, the four beasts,\u00a0 you\u2019ll recall back in Daniel 7.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAs for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:28]\n\nAnd then if that weren\u2019t enough he says the same thing at the end of Daniel 8, the vision about the ram and the goat, at the very end of that vision it says, \u201cThen I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king's business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 8:27]\n\nThe suffering that the nation would encounter prior to the manifestation of the kingdom and the fulfillment of the covenant, as glorious as that kingdom would be, Daniel was bothered by the suffering that his people would endure.\u00a0 And as we study Daniel 8 we\u2019re going to have another prophecy about that suffering.\u00a0 The kingdom will come for Israel but it will be preceded by great tribulation.\n\nIf you look there at the beginning of verse 17 Daniel raises another issue.\u00a0 He says, \u201cFor how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord?\u201d\u00a0 In other words, who am I to talk to God?\u00a0 Who am I to plead my case before God?\u00a0 Who am I to converse with God?\u00a0 Who am I to under-stand God.\u00a0 After all, who am I?\u00a0 I\u2019m just a finite being.\u00a0 And yet God is infinite, He is omniscient\u2014all knowing, omnipotent\u2014all powerful, omnipresent\u2014everywhere at the same time.\u00a0 Who am I exactly?\n\nOne of the things that we\u2019re doing at our home, and I hope your home is doing this as well, is with my family, specifically with my daughter, we\u2019re reading a chapter of the Bible every single night.\u00a0 I let my daughter pick what book we\u2019re going to study; she reads a verse, I read a verse, she reads a verse, I read a verse.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take long, five, ten minutes, it just gets us thinking about things of God as we get ready to turn in for that evening.\u00a0 And I said to her what do you want to study?\u00a0 She says I want to study the Book of Job.\u00a0 I said oh no, first of all that\u2019s got forty-two chapters in it.\u00a0 Do you understand that Sarah?\u00a0 Yeah, I understand.\u00a0 And secondly every time I\u2019ve studied the Book of Job God treats me like Job.\u00a0 But we were studying through the end of Job last night, Job 9:32-33 and this is what Job said.\u00a0 It\u2019s directly on point with what Daniel is talking about.\n\nJob says, \u201cFor He is<\/em> not a man as I am that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together.\u00a0 [33] \u201cThere is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both.\u201d\u00a0 We all know the story of the Book of Job; we know the problems that Job faced and in Job 9 Job is saying if I could just get into the presence of God and explain to him my circumstances, but how can I do that?\u00a0 He\u2019s in heaven, I\u2019m on the earth.\u00a0 He is infinite, I am but a mortal finite being.\u00a0 What I need is an umpire, Job says, \u201cwho may lay his hand upon us both.\u201d\n\nDid you know that the oldest book of the Bible (in terms of date of writing) is the Book of Job?\u00a0 Job even precedes the writings of Moses in the Torah and the Pentateuch\u2014Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.\u00a0 Job precedes the Pentateuch by at least six centuries, six hundred years before Moses came on the scene and gave us the Book of Genesis we have the Book of Job.\u00a0 And I believe that this is why the Book of Job deals so aggressively with the subject of suffering.\u00a0 God knew that this is something that would bother us all our days.\u00a0 And so God says right out of the gate, the very first revelation I\u2019m going to give is going to deal with something that haunts human beings, even Christians that have been walking with the Lord for decades, this subject of suffering.\n\nAnd we know that Job suffered.\u00a0 And he calls out here for an umpire, someone that could represent him before God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have an umpire, I\u2019m a man and God is God!\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that that inquiry is made in the oldest book of the Bible and when the rest of the Bible shows\u00a0 up and starts to be written over the course of 1500 years that the rest of the Bible is answering that question.\u00a0 I have no umpire, I have no mediator, and\u00a0 yet there\u2019s a solution, isn\u2019t there, as there is an umpire, and there is a mediator. Job specifically wanted someone who could lay hands on us both; I\u2019m a man and He is God, I need someone in the middle.\u00a0 Who better qualified to be that mediator or that\u00a0 umpire than someone who was not just God but man.\u00a0 The unique God-man in the person of Jesus Christ is that umpire.\u00a0 Only He can do it.\u00a0 He\u2019s man, He can represent\u00a0 us before God.\u00a0 And He\u2019s also 100% God, He represents God before man.\n\nThere are many, many people today that are busy praying to statues, biblical characters, praying to Mary, praying to whoever else and yet they have no business taking their requests to such a character or such a figure.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Mary (and I love Mary, I love the role that she played in the outworking of God\u2019s purposes) but Mary, the last time I checked, was a sinner just like the rest of us.\u00a0 She was not both God and man; that\u2019s why 1 Timothy 2:5 is very clear, it says there is \u201cone mediator,\u201d not two, not three, not four, not five, \u201cone mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nAnd the ignorance of human beings in simply stating that there are many paths to God, not understanding this most basic, most rudimentary, this most fundamental idea that only a mediator representing God and man in what the theologians call the hypostatic union, Jesus being 100% God and 100% man, only such a person can qualify.\u00a0 And this is what Job is crying out for.\u00a0 It seems to me Daniel, to a large extent there in verse 17 is crying out for the same thing. \u201cwho am I\u201d to talk to God?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But you can through the person and the work of the unique God-man, Jesus Christ.\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that we have the most foundational fundamental problem being articulated here and\u00a0 yet God has an answer for it.\u00a0 Even before Job knew what the answer was God had an answer; it was just a matter of time to allow redemptive history to be progressively unfolded.\u00a0 The greatest problem we have has been solved in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The greatest cry of the oldest book of the Old Testament has been solved in the person of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And today, in the year 2017, almost 2018, we come to God with our concerns and we just think God doesn\u2019t have it under control.\u00a0 God, you helped me\u2026 and we suffer from the curse of a short memory, we really do.\u00a0 We\u2019ve forgotten what God did in 2016, 2015, 2014, all the way back to 1966 (the date of my birth) some of you are a little older than that, not that much, 1979, 1980, go back and think what God has done in\u00a0 your life.\u00a0 Think about how He has, by grace, helped you over and over and over and over again.\n\nThis is the benefit of journaling.\u00a0 I think we should have journals that are about as thick as the Book of Acts and bigger.\u00a0 The miracles that God has done, the help He has given.\u00a0 I\u2019m not even talking about salvation here, I\u2019m just talking about basic things He does and we should have an attitude where we go before Him with\u2026 not with a heavy heart but with a heart of expectation and optimism where we say to the Lord, you know, I don\u2019t how You\u2019re going to do this, I don\u2019t know how You\u2019re going to fix it but I can\u2019t wait to find out.\u00a0 See, I used to want the method God was going to use but the reality of the situation is God\u2019s never revealed any method He\u2019s used to rescue me.\u00a0 He just says trust in Me!\u00a0 I am the same yesterday, today and forever!\n\nGod hasn\u2019t changed His character.\u00a0 We think He\u2019s changed because we change.\u00a0 But God never does.\u00a0 And so Daniel is approaching God with this weakness that he has, in trepidation, with also (I believe) with an attitude of optimism and expectation and what happens there in verses 18-19; man has a problem, God has a solution.\n\nNotice, if you will, verses 18-19. It says, \u201cThen this<\/em> one with human appearance touched me again\u2026\u201d I\u2019m going to stop right there, he \u201ctouched me again.\u201d\u00a0 This is not the first time Daniel has been helped and assisted by God; this is something that we\u2019ve read about all the way through the Book of Daniel, crisis\u2014God touched.\u00a0 Crisis two\u2014God\u2019s second touch.\u00a0 Crisis three---God\u2019s third touch.\u00a0 And we kind of come before the Lord and we think we\u2019ve used up all of the coins in our piggy bank--God\u2019s not going to listen to me this time.\u00a0 For God not to listen to you or to listen to me \u201cthis time\u201d would involve God changing His character, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u00a0Which is something that cannot happen.\u00a0 Malachi 3:6 God says I change not.\u00a0 [Malachi 3:6, \u201cFor I, the LORD, do not change.\u201d]\n\nHe is immutable; He is changeless.\u00a0 The God that helped you in the past can\u2019t wait to help you in the present.\u00a0 If He suddenly changed His mind that would encompass, would it not, a change in His character, something that we know is a theological and a biblical impossibility.\u00a0 You should not feel guilty or bad about going to God over and over and over and over again with recurring issues, recurring problems in your life.\n\nDaniel 10:18, \u201cThen this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.\u201d\u00a0 [19] He said, \u2018O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!\u2019 Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, \u2018May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Daniel had a problem, a weakness, God had a solution.\u00a0 The word \u201cagain\u201d reinforces the fact that this is a relationship that he had with the Lord, no matter what the problem was God kept ministering to that point of need.\n\nWe have made reference to the fact many times in this study that the angel keeps referring to Daniel as\u00a0 a \u201cman of high esteem,\u201d great esteem.\u00a0 And you may be saying to yourself that\u2019s not what I am; this week I had this failure and that failure and this setback, and this discouragement over here.\u00a0 How could God refer to me as a person of great esteem?\u00a0 Well, you are not, and I am not, a person of great esteem in self-righteousness, am I?\u00a0 But if we stand through the alien righteousness of God, a righteousness not derived through our own ingenuity but a righteousness that has been given to us by faith, you become a person of great esteem.\u00a0 In fact, I would say this, that God looks at you right now as if\u00a0 you\u2019re just as righteous as Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 Even though you had an argument with your spouse on the way over to church today.\u00a0 God looks at you positionally as if you were just as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself, not through self-righteousness but through alien righteousness, and transferred righteousness.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll also notice here in verse 19 the reference to \u201cPeace.\u201d\u00a0 What is the cross of Jesus Christ all about?\u00a0 It is about bridging the gap between God and man and bringing reconciliation or peace between the two.\u00a0 And a lot of people, a lot of Christians, live their life today as if God is mad at them.\u00a0 A lot of people will transfer their own relationship with their earthly father, which could have been very (to use modern day psychology) very dysfunctional, and they will transfer that to God.\u00a0 And they will think well, my earthly father was never pleased with me, my earthly father was always angry at me so that\u2019s how God is.\n\nThe reality of the situation is God is not angry at you because if you\u2019re a child of God we have the doctrine of propitiation, which is the satisfaction of divine wrath,\u00a0 \u00a0His wrath against your sins has been satiated, it has been satisfied; you are no longer an enemy of God, you are a friend of God.\u00a0 The holiness of His character has been satisfied because of what Jesus did and you\u2019ve received what Jesus has done by way of faith.\u00a0 So therefore the only attribute left for God to express towards you is the attribute of love.\u00a0 1 John 4:8 doesn\u2019t say God is loving, it says \u201cGod is love.\u201d\u00a0 His character is a character of love.\n\nAnd you say well, pastor, you don\u2019t really understand, I\u2019m under the disciplinary hand of God right now because of wrongdoing that I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 Let me let you in on something: that is not His wrath towards you; discipline itself is an act of love.\u00a0 \u201cWhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cchastens.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:6, \u201cFor whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.]\n\nThe neighbor\u2019s kids act up; I\u2019ve never spanked the neighbor\u2019s kids.\u00a0 I\u2019ve thought about it several times but I\u2019ve never done that.\u00a0 When your own act up and you see the destruction that they will bring into their lives by pursuing a wreckless course any loving parent corrects that child.\u00a0 So even the correction of God in your life today, if that\u2019s going on, is a sign of His love.\u00a0 You say well, wait a minute, Pastor, you don\u2019t really understand; I mean, I just lost my job, I have all kinds of health problems, I\u2019m going through some great valleys right now.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, that too is a sign of God\u2019s love because the Book of James, chapter 1:2-4 says, \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, because these things\u201d James 1:2-4 goes on and explains are necessary for the perfecting of our faith. \u00a0\u00a0[James 1:2-4, \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance have its<\/em> perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.\u201d]\n\nDaniel here is made aware of the peace that a person comes into with God when they\u2019re in God\u2019s provision.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that positional peace can be quickly followed by experiential peace.\u00a0 I mean, if there\u2019s peace between myself and God because of what Jesus has done then why should I allow my heart to be so filled with fear and anxiety all the time?\u00a0 If that\u2019s happening I am acting or living outside of my position; my practice hasn\u2019t caught up with my position.\u00a0 Jesus has come into the world, not just to give us positional peace but experiential peace.\u00a0 This is why the Apostle Paul says, \u201cBe anxious for nothing\u201d except a house payment?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that?\u00a0 \u201cBe anxious for nothing\u201d except that ornery in-law that I had to deal with over Thanksgiving?\n\nIt says, \u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer\u201d well, there\u2019s the problem, we\u2019re holding onto all this stuff and we\u2019re not releasing it to God by way of prayer, \u201c\u2026but in everything by prayer and supplication,\u201d supplication means supply, God supply this need, \u201cwith\u201d (here\u2019s a good one for the holiday) \u201cwith thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.\u201d Verse 6, and what does God say He\u2019ll do, verse 7, \u201cAnd the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension\u201d why is it called peace \u201cwhich surpasses all comprehension\u201d?\u00a0 Because the world can\u2019t figure it out.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the world says you have experiential peace when everything in your life is working out.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s a little problem with that; we\u2019re living in a fallen world where things oftentimes don\u2019t work out from the human vantage point, do they?\u00a0 That\u2019s why the world is visiting bars and drug abuse and numbing the pain through substance abuse, because they can\u2019t tap into this peace.\u00a0 And yet the child of God can.\n\n\u201cAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all\u201d human \u201ccomprehension, will guard\u201d that\u2019s a military term, \u201cyour hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not just the positional peace that God wants us to have; we have it if we\u2019re \u201cin Him\u201d but the experiential peace.\u00a0 It reminds me very much of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8 and verse 24.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd behold, there arose a great storm on the sea,\u201d anybody in a storm this morning, this afternoon, \u201cso that the boat was being covered with the waves;\u201d and I love this little part of the verse at the end of Matthew 8:24, \u201cbut Jesus Himself was asleep.\u201d\u00a0 I love it!\u00a0 In the midst of a storm there is Christ enjoying a nap.\n\nCan I ask you a question, just a basic Bible question?\u00a0 Where is Jesus living right now?\u00a0 He\u2019s living inside the believer, isn\u2019t He?\u00a0 Paul, in the Book of Galatians, Galatians 2:20 says, \u201cit is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,\u201d in other words, this same napping Jesus in the midst of a storm is in\u00a0 your life as\u00a0 you go through a storm.\u00a0 [Galatians 2:20, \u201cI have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.\u201d]\n\nWhat\u2019s He saying to you?\u00a0 Take a nap, take it easy.\u00a0 This experiential peace that you have, it doesn\u2019t come and go based on circumstances of life; as you walk in Me what\u00a0 you\u2019ll discover is I have not only given you positional peace but the privilege of moment by moment by faith, practical experiential peace.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of any better good news than this, do you?\n\nDaniel here is made aware of peace.\u00a0 Notice what it also says here.\u00a0 \u201cDo not be afraid but be courageous\u201d we could spend three hours on that couldn\u2019t we?\u00a0 Did\u00a0 you know that fear has no place in the life of the child of God.\u00a0 We\u2019re afraid of so many things; afraid of the future, afraid of Monday morning, afraid of this afraid of that, and the reality of the situation is if we\u2019re walking in fear we are living beneath our privileges.\u00a0 Christ has done everything that can be done to rid the human mind and the human heart of something that plagues it every day of its life in its natural self, its fear.\n\nAnd yet what does the Bible say?\u00a0 2 Timothy 1:7, \u201cFor God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.\u201d\u00a0 I know that every time in my life when I\u2019m afraid I can look at my own emotions and I can look at my Bible and say that\u2019s not coming from God.\u00a0 The emotion of fear that I am feeling right now cannot be coming from God because of the verse we just saw, \u201cGod has not given us a spirit of timidity.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Well, if it\u2019s not coming from God where is it coming from?\u00a0 It\u2019s coming from either our own sinful nature that always wants to be in control of everything all the time; that\u2019s why we\u2019re upset, we can\u2019t control everything and so we go into an emotion of anxiety.\u00a0 Or that spirit of fear is coming from the adversary himself who has targeted my mind.\n\nThe child of God has no connection to fear other than fear of the Lord, which would be a respect for God.\u00a0 Proverbs 28:1 says, \u201cThe wicked flee when no one is pursuing,\u201d it\u2019s the unsaved, it\u2019s a manifestation of the unsaved; it\u2019s a characteristic of the unsaved.\u00a0 Fear is not the child of God because the verse goes on and it says, \u201cBut the righteous are bold as a lion.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s your position in Christ.\u00a0 Not only are\u00a0 you righteous but you can be as bold as a lion; you can \u201cin Christ\u201d take on the worst circumstances that a human being can imagine and \u201cin Christ\u201d you can walk through that storm with peace just as real as Jesus sleeping on that boat on the Sea of Galilee.\n\n\u201cDo not fear, be courageous,\u201d and then the explanation continues, where we learn of ongoing struggle.\u00a0 Look at verse 20, \u201cThen He said to me, \u2018Do you understand why I came to you?\u00a0 But I shall now return to fight against the Prince of Persia.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 [Daniel 10:20]\u00a0 \u00a0The angel says I fought my way in to get you this answer Daniel, and guess what I got to do now?\u00a0 I got to fight my way back out.\u00a0 This same evil spirit over the empire of Persia, that we have spoken of in our prior sermon, that stopped me from getting through, that bound me up for twenty-one days, I\u2019ve now got to fight my way back out.\u00a0 What a picture, is that not, of the invisible war?\u00a0 We looked at many of these verses but these verses, more than any other verses I can think of in the Bible, along with Daniel 10 pull back the veil and give us, as mere mortals, insight into the spiritual war that is happening all around us.\n\nHe continues on in verse 20, and he says, \u201cso I am going forth,\u201d now watch this, \u201cand behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.\u201d\u00a0 This same Persian fallen spirit, and by the way, Persia was known for its hatred of the nation of Israel, not so much at the time that Daniel had this vision because Cyrus was allowing the nation to go back after the seventy year captivity had ended, but a few centuries down the line is going to develop a man named Haman, from Persia, who will develop a plot to exterminate the Jewish people.\n\nI am firmly convinced that that same fallen spirit over Persia is still there.\u00a0 I believe that largely explains the insanity that we see from the modern state of Iran the Islamic Republic of Iran, a nation that\u2019s probably one of the greatest troublemakers, one of the greatest state sponsors of worldwide terrorism today.\u00a0 I think a lot of these things are explainable if we were simply to pay attention to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 This Persian spirit, this demon over Persia, perhaps it was Satan himself, I don\u2019t know, opposed me, Gabriel says, for twenty-one days, I finally am breaking through to get you the message but now I\u2019ve got to turn right around and I\u2019ve got to fight my way out.\n\nAnd once Persia is off the scene there\u2019s going to be another empire called the Empire of Greece, that\u2019ll be just as demonically energized as Persia.\u00a0 How do we know that?\u00a0 Because in the prophecies of the times of the Gentiles (that we have studied) Daniel is very clear of the various empires that would trample down the nation during this terrible time period.\u00a0 First would come Babylon, the head of gold, Daniel 2; the lion, Daniel 7.\u00a0 Then would come the chest and arms of silver, Daniel 2, the bear, Daniel 7.\u00a0 Then would come the leopard, that\u2019s Greece, who was the belly and thighs of bronze in Daniel 2, leopard, Daniel 7, then would come the iron legs, the Roman Empire mentioned there in Daniel 2 and the terrifying beast in Daniel 7.\n\nYou remember the prophecy that was given in Daniel 8?\u00a0 These two empires, first Medo-Persia, then Greece, were named by name.\u00a0 And here we are in Daniel 10, the vision that he is seeing here and those two empires are named specifically, the names Persia and Greece are named in the biblical text, Daniel 8:20-21, and Daniel 10:20.\u00a0 [Daniel 8:20-21, \u201cThe ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. [21] \u201cThe shaggy goat represents<\/em> the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel 10:20, \u201cThen he said, \"Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.\u201d]\n\nAnd let me tell you something; Persia was bad, Greece is worse.\u00a0 How do you know that?\u00a0 Because I\u2019ve read ahead a little bit.\u00a0 Daniel11 is going to focus, primarily on the empire of Greece.\u00a0 First, Alexander the Great and then the division of Alexander the Great\u2019s empire amongst his four generals, and then arising from Seleucus, the Seleucid dynasty, about 165 B.C., about 400 years after Daniel saw this vision, is going to arise a man named Antiochus Epiphanes who is a forerunner of the antichrist, who will\u00a0 usher in the greatest wave of persecution the nation of Israel will experience before the antichrist himself shows up.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that through all of this God is faithful 100% of the time.\u00a0 One of the statements I like to make is every time someone attacks the nation of Israel not only does the nation of Israel survive but they get a holiday out of it.\u00a0 Haman, of Persia, tried it and he failed, the Book of Esther explains that, a holiday comes out of it called Purim, the Feast of Lots.\n\nAs we continue on in the prophecy, Daniel 11, Antiochus Epiphanes, of the Empire of Greece tried the exact same thing, even desecrating the temple of the Jewish people in between the testaments, the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, and yet Israel will survive against all odds and they\u2019ll even get a holiday out of it called what?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 Hanukah, or Dedication, or Feast of Lights.\u00a0 You\u2019ll even see Jesus Christ in the New Testament, John 10:22, celebrating that feast.\u00a0 [John 10:22, \u201cAt that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;\u201d]\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that no matter what comes at God\u2019s people God is always faithful.\u00a0 You say well, that\u2019s all great scholarship and academics.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it true for your life as well?\u00a0 I mean, has God changed?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t we just see that \u201cGod is the same, yesterday, today and forever.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 13:8]\u00a0 If the God who does not change has demonstrated so much faithfulness to the nation of Israel in her history, then what are you worried about Monday morning for?\u00a0 What are you worried about Tuesday for, or Wednesday, or your retirement years, or is this job going to come through, or is that job going to come through, or your finances, or your health, or a negative report that shows up on the X-ray, from the doctor, or whatever the issue is why are you worried about it?\n\nGod, who helped Israel in the past will help you in the future and in the present.\u00a0 I hope this study in Daniel is not just something that\u2019s in our minds intellectually and academically and yet we haven\u2019t gone into wisdom whereby we are applying it consistently.\n\nVerse 21, \u201cHowever, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel, the truth is coming; the truth is the vision given in chapters 11 and 12, the rest of the vision.\u00a0 Verse 21, \u201cYet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces<\/em> except Michael your prince.\u201d \u00a0The only way, Gabriel says, that I got through to answer this request as I was being resisted by the Empire and the Principality over Persia is Michael helped me.\u00a0 We saw that last time, did we not, in Daniel 10:13.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:13, \u201c\"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s a war in heaven for twenty-one days between Gabriel and Michael and the Prince and Power over Persia, the two overcame.\u00a0 The angel got through; the prayer request was answered, the vision was delivered.\u00a0 And now Gabriel says, with Michael\u2019s help, and only with Michael\u2019s help, I\u2019ve got to fight my way back out.\n\nDaniel 10:13, Daniel 10:21 is the first references to Michael in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Michael is going to show up again in Daniel 12 where we learn that Michael has a specific function which is to stand guard over\u00a0 the nation of Israel.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:21, \u201cHowever, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.\u201d]\u00a0 Gabriel has his function; he delivers new insight.\u00a0 Michael has his function, he is the entity that guards the nation of Israel. Isn\u2019t it interesting how ordered God is, how different angels do different things.\n\nThe end of chapter 10 into chapter 11:1 I believe is one of the worst chapter breaks in the whole Bible. Chapter 11, verse 1, belongs at the end of chapter 10.\u00a0 Now we all know, do we not, that the Holy Spirit did not put these chapter breaks in.\u00a0 Many times the chapter breaks are very helpful but other times they handicap us as Bible readers because they bifurcate unnaturally one section from the other when God never intended for bifurcation to be there.\n\nSo I\u2019m going to conclude with chapter 11, verse 1, which in my mind should be chapter 10, verse 22.\u00a0 So when the Wood\u2019s Study Bible comes out [laughter] that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to read.\u00a0 Chapter 11, verse 1 says, \u201cIn the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.\u201d\u00a0 Now Gabriel, perhaps Michael, is talking about what they\u2019ve done in the past.\u00a0 They helped a king, protected him, called \u201cDarius the Mede.\u201d\u00a0 Now\u00a0 you say \u201cDarius the Mede,\u201d I\u2019ve read about that somewhere before, and yes you have.\u00a0 He\u2019s the King in Daniel 6.\u00a0 He\u2019s the king that was fooled into throwing Daniel into the Lion\u2019s den but regretted it; he was a good king.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting that these angels, these good angels had a function of protecting him and encouraging him.\u00a0 The amount of information we\u2019re given here about angels, good and fallen, in the politics of humanity is mind-numbing, it\u2019s mind-blowing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that they wanted to protect him and to encourage him.\u00a0 That word \u201cencouragement\u201d is so significant because when you\u2019re in the height of battle the number one weapon that the devil has against us is just plain and simple discouragement.\u00a0 And how we need, how those in public office that are on the right side of things, need encouragement.\u00a0 How spiritual leaders need encouragement.\u00a0 How those that are on the front lines need encouragement.\u00a0 In fact, this need for encouragement is so significant that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit has placed into the church is the gift of encouragement, exhorting\u2026hey, good job, you\u2019re doing well.\n\nYou know, the Bible says life and death is in the power of the tongue.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing what one aptly spoken word of encouragement can do for a leader.\u00a0 In fact, there\u2019s a guy in the New Testament that was so good at this, his name was called Barnabas, Acts 4:36, which translated means son of encouragement.\u00a0 This guy was such an encourager and believe me, Paul needed that as he was out on these missionary journeys.\u00a0 This guy was such an encourager that they nicknamed him son of encouragement.\u00a0 [Acts 4:36, \u201cNow Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),\u201d]\n\nHow we need that today in the body of Christ.\u00a0 Critics are a dime a dozen; encouragers are in very short supply.\u00a0 We need that in the body of Christ, we need that in the State of Texas concerning many of the righteous people that God has placed over us.\u00a0 When was the last time you sent them a word of encouragement, via e-mail or whatever.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, you took a stand on this issue and I appreciate that, thank you!\u00a0 In fact, that kind of thing happens so frequently when you send it they\u2019re likely to send you a response saying thank you because they\u2019re just not used to receiving that.\u00a0 So this encouragement is so significant that these angels encouraged Darius, a good king.\n\nAs we continue on next week we will take a look at the remainder of this vision.\u00a0 Persia and Greece, through it all though what is God doing?\u00a0 He\u2019s emphasizing His sovereignty and He\u2019s emphasizing His faithfulness.\u00a0 And that can be true in\u00a0 your life today.\u00a0 For the very first time in your life you can receive what we would call the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of God, the benefits of the cross, simply by trusting in what Jesus has done for you.\u00a0 As we have explained this morning, Jesus has done it all.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we call it good news; He\u2019s bridged the gap between sinful humanity and a holy God.\u00a0 He simply asks the lost sinner to trust, not in what they do for themselves but what He has done for them.\u00a0 And if they will do that, even as I\u2019m speaking, in the privacy of their own thoughts and the quietness of their own heart they are entered into a real with God.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to raise a hand to do, walk an aisle to do, join a church to do, give money to do, but it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Lord places you under conviction and you respond to that convicting ministry by receiving from the Lord a free gift called salvation.\u00a0 John 3:36 says, \u201cHe who believes in the Son has eternal life but he who does not obey the son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.\u00a0 We would invite you today to leave here certain that you\u2019re \u201cin Christ\u201d having the life of God, no longer a candidate for the wrath of God, by trusting in what Jesus has done, in your own thoughts and quietness and privacy as the Spirit of God places you under conviction.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more information on them I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this chapter and what it reveals to us about the invisible conflict. Help us to walk out these things, this week, Father, as we walk with You, and as we continue to abide with You and lean upon Your changeless and uncompromising character. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t